The Verge
Microsoft Surface Laptop SE review: just get a Chromebook
A cute look can’t hide the slow processor
The VergeThe VergeSony reportedly plans to announce its Game Pass competitor next week
It seems likely to be a combination of PlayStation Plus and Now. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Sony will reportedly announce its answer to Xbox Game Pass, a service that’s currently known as Spartacus, “as early as” next week, according to Bloomberg. Previous reports say that Spartacus could be a combination of Sony’s two current subscription services, PlayStation Plus, and PlayStation Now. Bloomberg says that the service will launch featuring popular, recent games, but that it may not include the upcoming tentpole game God of War: Ragnarok.
The service is expected to have three different tiers, which will offer different games at different price points. One tier is expected to be very similar to the current PlayStation Plus subscription, while subsequent tiers would add PS4 and PS5 games (though the latter are expected to come...
The VergeThe UN plans to extend weather warning systems to everyone on the planet
Florida, smartphone extreme threat alert warning. | Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The United Nations wantsto make sure every person on Earth can receive early warnings ahead of disastrous weather events. It set a goal of hitting that target within five years in an announcement this week. Early warning systems are needed urgently to save lives as climate change makes extreme weather even worse, UN officials said.
Such systems include technology to forecast dangerous weather systems and the ability to share those forecasts with the public so that they can take precautions ahead of storms, floods, heatwaves, and droughts. One in three people in the world still aren’t protected by early warning systems, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
One in three people in the world still aren’t protected
“...
The VergeApple would be forced to allow sideloading and third-party app stores under new EU law
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Apple would be forced to allow users to install apps from outside the App Store under legislation recently unveiled by the EU. This stipulation was included in the initial proposal for the bloc’s sweeping Digital Markets Act, or DMA, which came one step closer to being signed into law this week, and an EU spokesperson confirmed that the provision is still included.
“We believe that the owner of a smartphone should have the freedom to choose how to use it,” said European Commission spokesperson Johannes Bahrke in an emailed statement. “This freedom includes being able to opt for alternative sources of apps on your smartphone. With the DMA, a smartphone owner would still be able to enjoy safe and secure services of the default app store on...
The VergeRussian military reportedly hacked into European satellites at start of Ukraine war
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
American government officials told The Washington Post that the Russian military was responsible for a cyberattack on a European satellite internet service that affected Ukrainian military communications in late February.
The hack affected the KA-SAT satellite broadband network, owned by Viasat, an American satellite communications company. On February 24th, the day the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, the KA-SAT network was hit by outages that affected Ukraine and surrounding regions in Europe. A few days afterward, Viasat blamed outages on a “cyber event,” but did not release further details.
Though Ukrainian officials have not fully disclosed the impact, the outage is believed to have caused significant communications disruptions...
The VergeUkraine is selling a timeline of the Russian invasion as NFTs
The first NFT from Ukraine’s “Meta History: Museum of War” collection. | Ivan Ponomarchuk / Ukraine Ministry of Digital Transformation
Ukraine’s government is raising funds by selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on a timeline of Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country. Ukraine Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov announced the collection’s launch on Twitter, boasting that “while Russia uses tanks to destroy Ukraine, we rely on revolutionary blockchain tech.” All sales funds will go to the Ministry of Digital Transformation to support the “army and civilians” of Ukraine.
The collection, titled “Meta History: Museum of War,” associates blockchain tokens with a news item about “every substantial event of the war” and an illustration from an artist. A total of 54 NFTs are currently listed, covering the first three days of the war in late February, with...
The VergePodcast app Overcast is getting a big design overhaul
The new design changes up the home screen, icons, and more. (And lets you customize the UI’s colors.)
Overcast, a popular podcast player for Apple devices, is getting an update that brings a major design overhaul to its main screen, as well as a new theming system that lets you pick the colors used throughout the app. For Overcast users like me, the update is a fresh coat of paint to a well-made app, and power users will likely find plenty of new tweaks and settings they can use to make the app work even better for their use case.
In a blog post, the app’s developer Marco Arment says that the 2022.2 update, available to download Friday, is “the largest redesign” the app’s ever gotten, and promises some exciting future updates.
The changes are obvious from the moment you open the app — there’s a new Recent carousel, which lets you...
The VergeNvidia shows off AI model that turns a few dozen snapshots into a 3D-rendered scene
From 2D to 3D with the help of AI. | Image: Nvidia
Nvidia’s latest AI demo is pretty impressive: a tool that quickly turns a “few dozen” 2D snapshots into a 3D-rendered scene. In the video below you can see the method in action, with a model dressed like Andy Warhol holding an old-fashioned Polaroid camera. (Don’t overthink the Warhol connection: it’s just a bit of PR scene dressing.)
The tool is called Instant NeRF, referring to “neural radiance fields” — a technique developed by researchers from UC Berkeley, Google Research, and UC San Diego in 2020. If you want a detailed explainer of neural radiance fields, you can read one here, but in short, the method maps the color and light intensity of different 2D shots, then generates data to connect these images from different vantage...
The VergeGhostwire: Tokyo is a paranormal love letter to the city
Ghostwire: Tokyo is a lot of different things. It’s a paranormal buddy cop drama, a high-octane action title, and a spooky exploration game from a studio known primarily for its horror titles. But according to producer Masato Kimura, none of those elements were the starting point for the game. “The entire concept stemmed from the city of Tokyo,” he tells The Verge.
The game takes place in a nearly empty version of the city, thanks to a mysterious event called “the vanishing” that causes the sudden disappearance of nearly every person in Tokyo. In their place are folklore creatures and evil spirits roaming the streets. Players wield magic to fight enemies while searching every nook of the city for lost spirits to save. Ghostwire pulls...
The VergeVergecast: Asus’ ROG Flow Z13, Samsung’s Freestyle Projector, and Apple’s iPhone subscription service plan
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales
Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel discusses the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories.
On today’s episode of The Vergecast, Nilay is joined by managing editor Alex Cranz and deputy editor Dan Seifert to discuss a whole lot of hardware and software news from this week.
Here are some of the headlines highlighted on the show:
- Google and Spotify now have a “multiyear agreement” to offer a payment system in addition to Google Play on Android. The crew discusses the ongoing battle between developers and platforms and how this may affect app store fees in the future.
- Nothing (the tech company) teased their first...
The VergeA new John Harris art book will capture more of his dreamlike sci-fi landscapes
Image: Titan Books
Legendary artist John Harris is best-known for his almost ethereal paintings of science fiction landscapes — and soon, there will be a new collection of his work for fans to dig into. Titan Books has announced The Art of John Harris II: Into the Blue, a hardcover book curating decades of work from the 73-year-old painter. The new collection will focus on his more futuristic paintings, as well as give readers a behind-the-scenes look at how certain projects went from sketch to completed work.
Some of Harris’ most iconic work includes book covers for the likes of Isaac Asimov to Jack Vance. And despite having a very distinct and surreal style — he says ideas come to him through meditation and lucid dreaming — Harris previously told The...
The VergeMicrosoft is tied to hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign bribes, whistleblower alleges
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge, Photos Getty Images
‘It’s going on at all levels,’ says former employee. ‘All the executives are aware of it.’
The VergeThe Daniels see Everything Everywhere All at Once as a story about generational love
Photo by Rich Fury / Getty Images
Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert open up about crafting cinematic love letters
The VergeApple TV’s Pachinko is an enthralling historical epic
Image: Apple
A show that redefines what a ‘tentpole’ series can be
The VergeHow to use Shazam on your iPhone without downloading the app
If you’re running a recent version of iOS, you can use Shazam without downloading the app or unlocking your phone. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
When Apple released iOS 14.2 in 2020, it introduced some landmark new emoji, like the “frustrated Italian hand gesture” and bubble tea. It also snuck in a very handy feature: the ability to add Shazam song identification to your iPhone Control Center. Best of all, you don’t even have to download the Shazam app to use it. With just a couple of easy steps, you can access this feature right from your lock screen.
Shazam is the song identification app that made all of us feel cool when we got our first smartphones. Suddenly, you could tell all of your friends what song was playing at the bar just by opening an app and sticking your phone in the air. In much more recent history, Apple acquired Shazam in 2018, making the app ad-free for...
The VergeWill ApeCoin and Yuga Labs make the regulators go ape?
Image: ApeCoin DAO
These silly simians are going to be influential
The VergeApple brings detailed city maps to Canada
A 3D view of Toronto’s City Hall. | Image: Apple
Apple Maps’ more detailed, three-dimensional cities that launched with iOS 15 are coming to Canada, offering better driving navigation, transit directions, and an augmented reality walking experience. The company has announced that the new city experience is available in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. The feature was previously available in a half a dozen US cities — Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. — as well as London in the UK.
It’s a welcome expansion. When we reviewed iOS 15 last year our only real issue with the enhanced mapping experience was its extremely limited availability. But, where available, it offers a sizable improvement to how cities look in Apple’s software, and...
The VergeApple is reportedly planning a 15-inch MacBook Air
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Apple’s upcoming MacBook Air redesign has been extensively reported on, but new information suggests it may come in two sizes. According to Display Supply Chain Consultants’ latest quarterly report (via 9to5Mac and AppleInsider), Apple is working on a 15-inch version of the laptop to sit alongside the 13-inch model, which may itself get a slightly larger screen as well.
TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo followed up on the report, saying that mass production is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2023. Kuo also says that the laptop is being designed to use the same 30W adapter as the MacBook Air, which would put it well below the latest MacBook Pro machines in terms of power consumption. Finally, Kuo notes that this...
The VergeNew EU law could require iMessage and WhatsApp to work with other, smaller platforms
The Digital Markets Act is meant to let small players compete with big ones. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
The EU’s newly agreed-upon Digital Markets Act could require messaging app developers to make their apps work together if it ends up being passed. In the EU’s press release, it says that lawmakers agreed that the companies behind WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or iMessage would have to make their apps “interoperable” with smaller messaging platforms at the developers’ request.
Here’s the relevant part of the EU’s statement:
During a close to 8-hour long trilogue (three-way talks between Parliament, Council and Commission), EU lawmakers agreed that the largest messaging services (such as Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger or iMessage) will have to open up and interoperate with smaller messaging platforms, if they so request. Users of small or...
The VergeActivision Blizzard hit with another sexual harassment lawsuit
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Another sexual harassment lawsuit has been filed against Activision Blizzard. The law firm of entertainment lawyer Lisa Bloom filed the suit on behalf of a plaintiff identified as “Jane Doe” against Activision Blizzard. Jane Doe alleges she has been subject to sexual harassment and discrimination while working at the company. The suit names Activision Blizzard, Blizzard Entertainment, three former Blizzard employees, two current employees, and “Does 1 through 25” as defendants.
Content warning: This story contains descriptions of sexual harassment.
Many of the allegations in the lawsuit involve Mark Skorupa, a former Blizzard staffer who is one of the named defendants and a current Microsoft employee. Doe was hired as a senior...
The VergeEU targets Big Tech with sweeping new antitrust legislation
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
The EU has unveiled its biggest ever legislative effort to balance competition in the tech world. The new Digital Markets Act, or DMA, is intended to rein in the power of the largest tech corporations and allow smaller entities to compete with the mostly US-based firms. So far, the EU has tackled antitrust issues on a case-by-case basis, but the DMA is intended to introduce sweeping reforms that will address systemic issues in the whole market.
Today’s announcement targets interoperability of messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and iMessage, with the EU saying that vendors will have to “open up and interoperate with smaller messaging platforms, if they so request.” The EU says that this should give users more choice in how...
The VergeNetflix bought yet another studio as part of gaming push
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Netflix has added another game developer to its ranks. The company announced that it has acquired Boss Fight Entertainment, a mobile studio based in Texas. It’s the third game studio that Netflix has scooped up following Oxenfree developer Night School and Next Games, the team behind a Stranger Things puzzle game. Past games from Boss Fight include a mobile strategy game called Dungeon Boss; the studio was founded following the closure of Zynga’s Dallas studio, which developed the Facebook game CastleVille.
The news comes as Netflix is making a major push into the gaming space. In addition to acquiring established studios, Netflix has also made mobile games a part of its subscription package — just this week saw the announcement of three...
The VergePlayStation 5 consoles are available today from Sony at 6PM ET
Sony just got a restock of the PS5 | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
On the hunt for a PlayStation 5? We know it is still quite the challenge to get a hold of one, but don’t give up hope just yet. Sony will be hosting another round of restocked consoles up for grabs at 6PM ET, no invite necessary.
You have a chance at the standard PlayStation 5, complete with a disc drive, for $500, or the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition for $400. Both come equipped with fast 820GB internal SSDs (667GB of which is usable storage), while the extra $100 for the standard model includes the built-in Blu-ray drive for loading up physical discs. Both models can have additional storage added through an expansion slot for one PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD, provided it has its own heatsink.
As is the usual standard practice, it is...
The VergeTwo men arrested for $1.1 million NFT ‘rug pull’ scam
A Frosties NFT avatar. | Frosties
US government prosecutors have charged two men with fraud and money laundering over a cryptocurrency “rug pull” scheme. Ethan Nguyen and Andre Llacuna allegedly earned around $1.1 million by selling non-fungible tokens (or NFTs) based on cartoon-like characters called “Frosties.” After selling the NFTs, they shut down the project and transferred its funds to a series of separate crypto wallets, leaving Frosties owners bereft of promised rewards.
According to the criminal complaint, the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) began investigating Frosties in January, shortly after receiving complaints about the scam. Frosties was a buzzy project whose 8,888 NFTs — priced at the...
The VergeGoogle changes how it decides which product reviews come up in Search
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Google announced Wednesday it’s making some improvements to how it decides which product reviews it shows in Search results. The idea behind these and other recent product reviews updates is to ensure that reviews you see are high quality and actually include helpful information about a product you might be considering buying.
The improvements build on earlier updates “to make sure that product reviews in Search meet certain criteria,” Google’s Perry Liu said in a blog post. Here are some examples of the criteria Liu says the company is looking for:
Include helpful in-depth details, like the benefits or drawbacks of a certain item, specifics on how a product performs or how the product differs from previous versions
Come from people who...
The VergeSpotify might soon bypass Android billing, but Google’s still getting paid
Spotify
For years, a loose coalition of companies, including Spotify and Epic Games, has been railing against the so-called app store tax — taking Apple and Google to court and spurring regulators to investigate their up-to-30 percent cut of developers’ app revenue. They argue they’re locked into grossly overpriced billing, hosting, and curation services that sometimes hurt more than they help.
So it was a surprise when, on Wednesday, Google revealed a pilot program with Spotify that will let some developers bypass Google Play billing on Android — letting Spotify and potentially others use their own payment platforms instead. But if you think that means Google’s going to give up its piece of the action, think again. Reading between the lines,...
The VergeOverwatch 2’s new ping system gives players more ways to communicate
Blizzard Entertainment
In the wake of the Overwatch 2 beta date announcement and an apologetic video from game director Aaron Keller promising the team would give more consistent updates on progress, the Overwatch 2 news floodgates have officially opened. In this latest update, we’re offered a glimpse of Overwatch 2’s overhauled ping system.
“We wanted to create a system that would enhance voice communication as well as provide alternative ways to share information with your team,” systems designer Gavin Winter says in the blog post.
New features include character-specific callouts in which, when a player makes a ping, their teammates hear that notification in that player’s hero’s voice. The blog gives an example: “if you’re playing Tracer and ping an enemy...
The VergeSpotify seems to be testing a revitalized Car Mode
Spotify’s Car Mode for Android could be making a return. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Spotify is reportedly letting some Android users test out a new, voice-focused car mode after it removed Car View last year without any obvious replacement. According to a report from 9to5Google, which includes screenshots of the test, Car Mode is less like the hyper-simplified Car View that came before it and more like a version of Spotify’s usual interface that’s tweaked to make quick actions easier.
While the current version of Car Mode that Spotify’s testing does have a tab that lets you access your recently played music, the search screen has been replaced by a voice control feature. The interface for controlling what’s currently playing has a similar layout to Spotify’s regular mode, which should let you use muscle memory (without...
The VergeMatter delay slows smart home device makers’ plans
Nanoleaf’s existing Essentials light bulb and light strip work with Thread, but won’t be updated to support Matter. | Image: Nanoleaf
You shouldn’t be concerned about the delay of Matter, the new smart home interoperability standard, because we’re not. That’s the message from smart home device makers Eve Systems and Nanoleaf, who have been involved with developing the protocol that promises smart home nirvana since its earliest days. “I think the three-month delay might actually be a good thing,” says Gimmy Chu CEO of Nanoleaf. “I feel that now there’s more certainty across the industry that we’ll have unity at time of launch.”
While there may be more certainty in the industry, current smart home owners are still in a quagmire of uncertainty around which products to buy and when. Especially now that Chu has confirmed to The Verge that Nanoleaf’s Thread-enabled A19...
The VergeThe Halo show is nothing like the games, and that’s why it’s good
Adrienn Szabo/Paramount+
After seeing the first episode of Halo, I’m totally on board. I’m a Halo lore hobbyist, meaning that while I’ve enthusiastically experienced the campaigns of Halo’s _Combat Evolved_through Guardians, go on regular Halopedia wiki dives, and own a well-loved copy of Eric Nylund’s The Fall Of Reach, I haven’t consumed everything the Halo universe has to offer. (Ghosts of Onyx, I swear I’ll get to you one day.) But based on the Halo stories I do know, I think Paramount Plus’ series offers a far more compelling look at the Master Chief than anything the games have done so far.
Spoilers for the first episode of Halo below:
It’s hard translating video games to film and TV. It’s only recently been done right with Arcane,Castlevania, and the S...